Article 141 vests law declared by the Supreme Court with binding force
on all courts.
Precedent strength is governed by the 5-Judge Constitution Bench ruling in
Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community v. State of Maharashtra (2005) 2 SCC 673, which fixed the
bench-strength hierarchy a lower bench must respect before declaring law in this jurisdiction.
7-JUDGE CONSTITUTION BENCHHighest declared law — e.g.
2023 INSC 1066 (Interplay of Arbitration Agreements & Stamp Act) — overrules any 5-Judge
bench.
5-JUDGE CONSTITUTION BENCHBinding on all 3-Judge and 2-Judge
benches — e.g. BALCO (2012 INSC 394), Lalita Kumari (2013 INSC 768).
3-JUDGE BENCHBinding on single & 2-Judge benches — e.g.
Essar Steel (2019 INSC 1258), Vidya Drolia (2020 INSC 697).
2-JUDGE DIVISION BENCHMust be referred upward where it
conflicts with a larger bench — e.g. NN Global (5-Judge, superseded).
✓ Verified Precedent Registry
- Bhatia International (1991) 4 SCC 560 — Overruled on foreign-seated arbitrations by
5-Judge BALCO (2012 INSC 394); superseded by NN Global (2023).
- Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod (2014) 9 SCC 129 — Statutorily superseded by NI (Amendment) Act, 2015 §142(2).
- NN Global (5-Judge Bench) — Overruled by the 7-Judge Constitution Bench in 2023 INSC
1066.
- Satender Kumar Antil (2022) 10 SCC 51 — Affirmed compliance guidelines for bail and CrPC
§41A / BNSS §35 (reiterates Arnesh Kumar).